Hand held bidet showers are well known and commercialized in the market of hydraulic devices, usually for substituting the known bidet, but which may be also applied in other hydraulic installations. Said hand held bidet showers are usually formed by: a control valve (or faucet) of manual operation and mounted to the water outlet of a hydraulic supply system; a flexible conduct (hose) having an inlet end connected to the control valve; a pistol, generally provided with a trigger valve which is mounted to an outlet end of the flexible conduct; and a support, usually affixed to a wall of a building and in which is seated the pistol when in the inoperative condition.
The pistol may be further provided with a lock operatively associated with the trigger, so that the valve can be maintained in an open condition, even when the user ceases to press the trigger.
In the installations of said known hand held bidet showers, the manually actuated control valve controls the opening and closure of the water supply to the pistol, through the flexible conduct, having a usually standard adequate length and which is usually constructed to withstand the dynamic pressure upon operation of the hand held bidet shower, particularly upon the closure of the pistol valve, when the user interrupts his actuation on the trigger.
In said known type of installation, mainly in those which operate under high pressure and use a manual control valve, it is highly recommended that the control valve is always closed after using the bidet shower, preferably before releasing the trigger for closing the pistol valve. The purpose of said recommendation is to avoid that an accidental rupture in the flexible conduct, caused by the sudden increase or long duration of the pressure in the hydraulic system, or by weakening, due to fatigue or wear of the flexible conduct, causes leaks of the pressurized water to the bathroom environments, while the control valve remains open.
Nevertheless, even with the recommendation of the manufacturers, the user frequently leaves the control valve open after using the bidet shower, which makes the blocking of the water flow guaranteed only by the trigger valve of the pistol, downstream the flexible conduct, which remains continuously pressed by the hydraulic supply system. In such type of solution, in case it occurs an accidental rupture in the flexible conduct, with the control valve left in the open condition, pressurized water will inevitably leak to the installation environment, causing damages, whose degree will depend on the extension of the rupture of the flexible conduct, on the pressure reigning in the hydraulic supply system, and also on the particularities of the installation place. Such occurrence may also lead the user to suit the manufacturer for damages.
Aiming at overcoming the inconvenience mentioned above, it was proposed a constructive solution in which the support that receives and retains the pistol in its inoperative condition is coupled to the driving means of the control valve, so that the user himself controls the opening and closure of the control valve, by moving the pistol between the operative position, when removed from the support, and the inoperative position, when received and retained on the support.
However, while allowing controlling the opening and closure of the control valve by the user, guaranteeing, in a practically automatic way, the closing of the control valve when the pistol returns to its inoperative condition on the support, said prior art solution requires the rotative displacement of the driving means, for allowing the sealing means of the control valve to be conducted to its opening and closing operational positions in the seat of the control valve. Besides, said rotative displacement should be fully completed by the user, otherwise the control valve will not be totally closed, maintaining the pressurization of the hose, and consequently the risk of leaks.